We will absitively posolutely finish the projects we start. (Or hide the evidence.)

Crayon Roll for Joanna

My son was invited to a birthday party recently and we had time to put together a nice present. Normally I don’t have much time or money to give to a birthday party for a toddler in Fionn’s preschool program. Besides, I usually do not know the parents and rarely know the child. This party was different! Fionn’s friend Joanna started in daycare with him when they were 18 months old. One of Fionn’s early complete sentences (that I can recall) was an answer to my question, “Do you like Joanna?” He said, “Yah, she’s cute.” And he sighed! So sweet. Plus, I know Joanna’s mother and she is always friendly when we meet.

All wrapped up.

Now that you know this, you can imagine our excitement in attending Joanna’s birthday party. I knew that Joanna liked girly things like the color pink and playing with dolls. I also knew she liked to draw and color. Ah-ha, Watson! A crayon roll!

In the last couple of years I have seen several tutorials for crayon rolls on the web. I particularly liked this colorful one with ric-rac at Skip to My Lou and this lovely from Prudent Baby. I knew I wanted to make something like those, but to fit 24 Crayola Twistables. I did find a tutorial at The Idea Room that used Twistables, and I liked the look of it. However, out of all the tutorials I viewed I had trouble determining exactly what size my material should be for 24 Crayola Twistables (sometimes I’m not too bright). So I did my own thing – which I will make note of at the end of this post, in case you are interested.

The finished crayon roll, smashing my impatiens.

Fionn picked out the multi-colored ice cream fabric and I had the ribbon lying around. I think it turned out great! We added stickers, and some Dollar Tree treasures to her present. I don’t know if Joanna liked it but Fionn loved giving it to her. He also enjoyed the ‘bouncy house,’ balloons, slide, swings, giant castle cake, and being the only boy from preschool to appear at the party. He was ‘The Man!”

(I would like to note that a few days after the party Joanna informed Fionn she was marrying him!)

So, what do you think of the crayon roll (not my three-year-old son’s impending marriage)?

My 'fancy' attempt at labeling.

Specifics:
1.) I cut 2 pieces of purple print & 1 piece of ice cream print at 25.5″ x 7″.
2.) I folded one piece of the purple print in half to make the pocket.
3.) I used interfacing between layers.
4.) Before sewing the individual pockets one inch apart, I marked the very middle of the roll and then made a chalk mark every inch twelve times on each side. When sewn together and flipped this left a small bit of space (maybe a 1/2″) between the first and last pocket and the end of the roll.
5.) I used a 1/2″ seam allowance.
6.) I sewed the individual pockets BEFORE I sewed the front and back together, so the lines would not show on the outside.
7.) The ribbon to tie it closed was 20 inches long.

If you need help making your own feel free to ask me. However, I imagine you will get better information from the links I provided to REAL tutorials above!